This invention relates to machines for moulding confectionery of the type comprising an endless conveyor for traversing moulds in continuous procession beneath a depositor, which depositor deposits liquid confectionery into the upwardly facing moulds on the upper run of the conveyor, and a conveyor band which travels continuously beneath the downwardly facing moulds on the lower run of the conveyor to receive partially cooled products from the moulds at a demoulding station. Normally, provision is made for assisting discharge of the products from the moulds at the demoulding station. This can be achieved mechanically, by tapping the bases of the inverted moulds, or, when the moulds are of flexible material, by a fixed member which encounters and slightly deforms the bases of the moulds, or pneumatically by directing an air blast through small holes in the bases of the moulds.
It is sometimes required that the demoulded products should be conveyed to a second depositing station to receive a further deposit, for example, a different liquid confectionery, a nut or a cherry. To permit this it is necessary that the confectionery fillings of the moulds should be deposited on the band without change of orientation and in precisely the same orderly arrangement as that in which they were contained in the moulds. Loss of correct positioning can arise from premature deposit of the confectionery products from the moulds before they reach the demoulding station and from mismatch in the linear speeds of the mould conveyor and the band.
Such mismatch cannot be avoided with existing machines of the above noted type. The moulds are mounted on a chain conveyor which can be positively driven at a desired speed, but the band cannot be relied upon to travel at precisely the same speed as the chain conveyor because of slippage between the band and its driving drum.